American History/Describe The Motives That Prompted Various European Groups To Migrate To America.

Describe The Motives That Prompted Various European Groups To Migrate To America.

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In the beginning, the Europeans that immigrated to America often did so because of one of two things; religious reasons or economic opportunity. They brought new ideas and new religions to the Americas. The Quaker Colonies of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were formed by English Protestants who wanted a place where they could worship their religion in peace, with social order. These people looked to America for asylum.

The Europeans also established colonies in The Caribbean Islands. The Spanish claimed the colonies of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, while the English had settlements on Antigua, St. Kitts, Jamaica, and Barbados. They based their economy on crops and after failed attempts growing tobacco and cotton, learned that sugar cane was the way to get wealthy in the Caribbean. Sugar could be distilled into rum and shipped to the mainland and to Europe.

It also became a competition mainly between the Spanish, French, and English. These nations wanted to expand their societies. Each of them dreamed of expanding beyond their current territory, creating an enormous empire with a great economy and wealth. Each of them also became paranoid of another country encroaching on their land, the same way the Native Americans probably felt when Europeans first arrived in The New World. The Spanish began to realize the value of the land out west and quickly established missions and forts in what is now California. They were also concerned with the new French colony of Louisiana to the west of Florida and the English colonies in the Carolinas and Georgia to the north.